Haunted places guide ยท Jim Thorpe and the Poconos, Pennsylvania
Haunted Places in Jim Thorpe and the Poconos: 8 to Visit
A handprint that will not wash off a cell wall, a church elevator built to carry a coffin, and a mansion that keeps the flag from Lincoln’s box. These are the haunted places of Jim Thorpe and the Pocono Mountains, with what is true and what is legend.
Jim Thorpe, the old coal town once called Mauch Chunk, packs more ghost stories into a few steep streets than anywhere else in the Poconos, many of them rooted in the Molly Maguire hangings of 1877. We have checked every place below against current sources, and added Milford and Shawnee on Delaware on the eastern edge of the mountains, plus the burning ghost town of Centralia, about 35 miles west of Jim Thorpe in the coal region. Haunted Rooms runs its own ghost hunts at the Columns Museum in Milford.
On fall weekends the Jim Thorpe Rotary Club’s lantern-lit GhostWalks leave from the Inn at Jim Thorpe on Broadway: about an hour on foot, outdoors, past the jail, the opera house and St. Mark’s. Haunted trolley tours have also run on fall evenings from the Castle Inn in Delaware Water Gap.
Where to look The second-floor hallway, the basement and the attic stairs
Reported ghosts Juliette Peirce, a woman in a dark dress, a small woman in the basement
Visiting Museum open on set afternoons
Hours and season Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 4 PM; Thursday and Friday by appointment
Ghost hunting Yes: Haunted Rooms ghost hunts, 8 PM to 2 AM
This 22-room neoclassical mansion was built in 1904 for businessman Dennis McLaughlin and is now home to the Pike County Historical Society. Its most famous treasure is the bloodstained flag said to have cradled Abraham Lincoln’s head at Ford’s Theatre in 1865. The museum also keeps belongings of the philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce and his wife Juliette, who lived on at their Milford home, Arisbe, after his death.
The Pike County Courier has reported the long-told claim that Juliette Peirce walks the second-floor hallway near her things, and visitors describe a woman in a dark dress at the top of the stairs, a small woman in the basement, whispers, and footsteps and heel clicks after closing. The Sullivan Paranormal Society investigated several times. Haunted Rooms runs its own after-dark ghost hunts here.
What our team has found
Activity here comes in waves. Estes sessions in Juliette’s room get the most replies, EMF meters respond in the military room and EVP sessions in the genealogy records room have brought intelligent answers. Teams have also heard knocks downstairs, shuffling footsteps in the boiler room and a music box going off in the basement.
From Haunted Rooms event reports
Haunted Rooms tip: See the Lincoln flag on a Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday afternoon, then come back after dark on one of our ghost hunts.
Reported ghosts The handprint on the wall of Cell 17
Visiting Guided tours only
Tours Guided tours only, about 30 to 35 minutes: the 27 original cells, the handprint in Cell 17 and the dungeon
Hours and season Seasonal to late November or early December; closed Wednesdays. Weekday tours by reservation; weekend tours 12 to 4 PM, first come first served
Tickets Adults $13, ages 13 to 17 $10, ages 5 to 12 $7; buy in person
Ghost hunting Not allowed: the museum prohibits paranormal investigation and equipment
The Carbon County Jail was built in 1869 and 1870 and held prisoners until 1995. On June 21, 1877, four men accused of being Molly Maguires were hanged here on the same day, part of the crackdown on Irish coal miners in the anthracite region. The building is now a museum with original cells and a lower-level dungeon.
Its famous story is the handprint in Cell 17. A condemned man is said to have pressed his hand on the wall and sworn the print would stay as proof of his innocence, and the museum says it has survived washing, painting and rebuilding. The museum names Thomas Fisher as the likely man; others credit Alexander Campbell, hanged that June day.
Haunted Rooms tip: The museum bans ghost hunting equipment, so come for the guided tour and the handprint, not an investigation. Stay at the Inn at Jim Thorpe up the street.
Where to look Rooms 211 and 310, the second-floor hallway
Reported ghosts Madeline of room 211, a nurse in room 310, a little boy in suspenders
Visiting A working hotel; lobby and restaurant open to the public
Ghost hunting No organized ghost hunts; stay the night or take the GhostWalk that starts here
The Inn at Jim Thorpe is the grand hotel of the old coal town once called Mauch Chunk, with two stories of lacy cast-iron balconies across its Broadway front. It began as the White Swan Hotel in 1833 and was rebuilt as the New American Hotel after the great fire of 1849. It is also where the Jim Thorpe Rotary Club’s lantern-lit GhostWalks have started each fall for about two decades.
Ghost walk guides tell of a love affair that carried on past death, with sightings in room 211 or 311, and the hotel’s own lore adds a nurse in room 310 and a little boy in suspenders. Guests report wake-up calls the front desk never made, chairs that move and children laughing in empty rooms. You can book a room and judge for yourself; our hotel guide has the full story.
What investigators report
Staff say the nurse said to haunt Room 310 gets annoyed when a guest lies on the side of the bed where her patient is lying, and guests have reported an icy grip.
Where to look The steam vents south of the old town and St. Ignatius hill
Reported ghosts Shadow figures, and a priest's curse in local legend
Visiting Public roads only; most land is private or state owned, and the remaining homes are private
Hours and season No set hours; visit in daylight
Tickets Free
Ghost hunting No organised investigations; do not enter fenced or posted land
A fire lit in an old strip-mine pit in May 1962 spread into the abandoned coal mines under Centralia and has never gone out. After a 12-year-old boy fell into a sinkhole in 1981, the state condemned the borough, its ZIP code was withdrawn in 2002, and the 2020 census counted five residents. The old Route 61 stretch known as the Graffiti Highway was buried under dirt mounds in 2020.
Centralia is best known as an inspiration for the Silent Hill film. The ghost stories are thinner than the reputation: visitors talk of shadow figures among the empty lots, and local legend says a priest cursed the town in 1869, predicting only his church would survive. The Ukrainian Catholic church on the hill does still stand.
What investigators report
One investigation team reported spirit box replies such as “I’m Bill” after introducing themselves on the abandoned stretch of Route 61, with further responses near the cemeteries.
Haunted Rooms tip: Stay on public roads and paths. Ground over the fire can collapse, and steam from the vents has tested at dangerous carbon monoxide levels.
Reported ghosts Mary Packer Cummings, said to ride the elevator
Visiting Active church; open for guided tours in season
Tours 30-minute tours, Thursday to Saturday 12 to 4 PM and Sunday 1 to 5 PM, May to October; fall and winter dates vary
Tickets $10 adults, $5 children over 10, under 10 free
Ghost hunting No
Richard Upjohn designed this Gothic Revival church on steep Race Street, consecrated in 1869. Asa Packer, the railroad magnate who founded Lehigh University, served on its vestry for 44 years, and his family paid for much of the building. It has Tiffany windows and a carved stone reredos modeled on one at Windsor Castle, and it is a National Historic Landmark. It is still an active parish, now St. Mark and St. John.
The ghost story centers on the Otis birdcage elevator installed during a 1912 renovation paid for by Packer’s daughter, Mary Packer Cummings, and big enough for a coffin and six pallbearers. Cummings died before the work was finished, and tour guides say her casket was the elevator’s first passenger. GhostWalk guides add the rumor that it still runs with nobody at the controls. That last part is pure local lore.
Haunted Rooms tip: Take the 30-minute church tour (May to October, Thursday to Sunday afternoons) and ask to see the elevator.
Where to look The middle seat of row five, the right aisle steps and the stage
Reported ghosts Thomas Pitney, a former owner
Visiting Open for shows, films and events
Hours and season Box office Fridays 11 AM to 4 PM; doors open for scheduled shows
Tickets Per show, through the official site
Ghost hunting No
Milford’s theater on East Catharine Street dates from the early 20th century. Its artistic director gives 1911, while a Pike County Courier ghost story says Thomas Pitney built it in 1920. It began with vaudeville and silent films, ran as a movie house until October 1962, then became a seasonal stage and home of the Black Bear Film Festival. After the pandemic it was renovated into a modern performance space, with a bar that runs from the lobby into the auditorium.
Its ghost is said to be Pitney himself. According to the Courier, the former owner took his own life on the stage of the empty theater after years of money and health troubles, and a 1935 newspaper reported his death in the building. A theater company that used the stage kept the middle seat of the fifth row empty for him, a projectionist reported a bone-chilling cold then a warm breeze, and a volunteer said a stubborn poster slid into place after she asked him for a hand. These are stories rather than records.
Haunted Rooms tip: Catch a show and leave the middle seat of row five for Mr. Pitney.
Visiting a haunted place by day is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through a historic building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and vigils, and gives you time to explore on your own. These are the nearest ones we run.
Reported ghosts Phantom hammering and construction noises
Visiting Open for shows and events
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
Architect Addison Hutton designed this hall on Broadway, and its cornerstone was laid in August 1881. It opened in 1882 as a 900-seat concert hall above a farmers’ market, and later drew vaudeville stars including Al Jolson and John Philip Sousa. It spent years as a movie house and even a warehouse before the Mauch Chunk Historical Society took it on, burning the mortgage in 2011. Today it is an intimate theater of about 400 seats.
Its ghost story is a stop on the Rotary GhostWalk: the sound of hammering and building work in the empty hall, which guides say stopped after an investigation. It is a mild tale and we found no named witness behind it, but the opera house leans into the season with its own haunted theater program in the fall. Come for a concert and judge the acoustics, and the quiet moments, for yourself.
What investigators report
A local paranormal society reported asking questions aloud such as “Are you here?” and watching K2 EMF meter lights for answers, with one investigator filming a figure in a hat at the balcony entrance.
Address 552 River Rd, Shawnee on Delaware, PA 18356
Where to look The balcony, the upstairs dressing rooms and the sound booth
Reported ghosts An older woman in the balcony
Visiting Open for performances
Ghost hunting No
The playhouse began in 1904 as Worthington Hall, a public hall that industrialist C.C. Worthington gave to the riverside village of Shawnee on Delaware. Fred Waring bought it in 1943, renamed it the Shawnee Playhouse and broadcast radio shows with his Pennsylvanians from the hall. An arsonist burned it on June 24, 1985, and the community rebuilt it as a copy of the original. Today the nearly 200-seat theater stages 10 to 15 productions a year, plus youth programs and a summer camp.
Midge McClosky, the playhouse’s executive director for almost 20 years, told East Stroudsburg University’s student paper in 2024 about an older woman often seen in the second-to-last balcony seat, staring at the stage; she has seen her herself. Actors report knocking in the upstairs dressing rooms, a light that switches itself on and a window that will not stay shut. Half a mile away, Shawnee Inn staff tell of a grieving 1918 bride in white outside room 105, a legend with no record behind it.
Haunted Rooms tip: Catch a show and look up at the balcony before the lights dim. It is a working theater, so there are no ghost hunts.
How we built this guide: this is a new page. We left out places that appear on online lists without any traceable source, including the Packer mansions, the Castle Inn at Delaware Water Gap and Eckley Miners’ Village, whose haunted lantern tours are staged theater rather than ghost lore. Centralia is in the coal region rather than the Poconos, but most visitors reach it from Jim Thorpe.
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We collect first-hand accounts from visitors and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your visit. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most haunted place in Jim Thorpe?
The Old Jail Museum, where four accused Molly Maguires were hanged on one day in June 1877. Its famous story is the handprint on the wall of Cell 17, said to have survived washing, painting and rebuilding. You can see it on a guided tour.
Can you go ghost hunting at the Old Jail Museum?
No. The museum bans paranormal investigation and ghost hunting equipment, so go for the guided tour. For a real night of ghost hunting in the Poconos, join us at the Columns Museum in Milford.
Is the Inn at Jim Thorpe haunted?
It has the town’s best-known hotel ghost stories: a young woman linked to room 211, a nurse in room 310 and a little boy in suspenders, along with phantom wake-up calls and moving chairs. See our Inn at Jim Thorpe guide.
Are there ghost tours in Jim Thorpe?
Yes. The Jim Thorpe Rotary Club’s GhostWalks run on fall weekends, starting at the Inn at Jim Thorpe on Broadway. They last about an hour, are entirely outdoors and raise money for local causes.
Is the Harry Packer Mansion haunted?
Local tradition says its exterior inspired the Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World, which is where its spooky reputation comes from, but that link has never been confirmed and we found no published ghost accounts, so it is not on our list. The Asa Packer Mansion museum next door has no ghost stories of note either.
Every place in this guide is checked against its official website, historic register listings and news coverage, and we confirm whether it is open, closed, private or gone before we list it. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and local historians tell them; we say so where records contradict a story. Each place shows how many independent sources we checked it against; our own Haunted Rooms pages are not counted.
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
